Argentinean applications for a patent of invention P 96 01 05634 and WO 00/24262 of this inventor disclose a process and a machine including the general characteristics above mentioned.
In the said process the said hollow ducts or longitudinal bags, delimited by the weld beads from the two sheets are obtained by moulding and for this purpose the said sheets pass dragged between a pair of pushing rollers arranged parallel and tangentially into contact with each other, one of the said rollers being provided with means for conforming the half of individual moulds of the product to be packed, while the other roller is also provided with means conforming the half of the individual moulds of the product to be packed.
Such shaping or moulding to achieve a suitable configuration exerts too much efforts on the sheets when moving forwards dragged by the said rollers the said sheets sustaining unavoidable deformations because of the action between the rollers themselves (with moulding grooving) and the conforming means (constituted by pressing disks) which can weaken the said sheets with the risk for the safety of the product packed. In addition, the process requires a very accurate operating coordination of a series of mechanical elements and stretching the sheets in at least the areas designed to be heat sealed between them which is carried out further to forming the individual moulds, which makes difficult to carry out the process with effective results and a good performance.
Another interesting document of the state of the art is patent U.S. Pat. No. 5,514,029 of the inventor himself, in which each of the sausages are obtained from a laminar duct by forming them with a shaping assembly which acts on the duct filled with material to be packed.
Another process which seeks to form the container from two heat welded sheets for producing German type sausage directly within the end container appears disclosed in patent U.S. Pat. No. 5,053,239 although that method is of intermittent sequence and requires a synchronism between feeding portions which forms the sausage and the means for cross closing the container.
Another process also based on a nonstop feeding system appears disclosed in patent AR 228,903 of the year 1982 of this inventor, which operates feeding moulding recesses between the longitudinally pre-welded sheets but the recesses of which are intercommunicated by smaller channels producing a zigzag run between the sheets for thereafter sealing the areas on which the channels are arranged.
By means of the process and machine of this invention, the production of pasty, liquid and semiliquid products in general and of sausages in particular is achieved, in a nonstop operation, using a container which is only shaped through the pressure of the product, with a very effective closing of the ends of each individual container, preventing most of the drawbacks arising from the complexity and interaction between moulding or shaping parts of those of the background mentioned up to now, and namely deformations and uneven loads on the laminar structure of the containers.
In the particular case of packaging German type sausages, the sausage packing is achieved without using a synthetic gut shaping the product.
Thus, according to this invention, the sausage is packed within the definitive container to be delivered to the public and thereafter it sustains the cooking operation which guarantees the product sterility or pasteurization during the process of production and the steps of shaping within the gut and further peeling off are spared. The pressure with which the sausage paste is packed remove any possibility that the air within the container which can affect it later on.